A San Jose-based electrical subcontractor at the Apple Park construc­tion project, Air Systems Inc. (ASI), will pay $1,250,000 to eight African American former employees and provide other relief to settle a racial harassment lawsuit filed on behalf of the group by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

ASI is a building contractor based in San Jose, California, that employs approximately 500 employees statewide and is part of the EMCOR Group, Inc.

According to the suit, the racial harassment included racist graffiti of swastikas and racial epithets drawn on the walls of the portable toilets at the Apple Park construction project, as well as a noose at the worksite hung next to a scrawled note containing other expletives, and a threat of lynching. In addition, the company failed to act when notified by two African American employees that a white coworker had taunted them with racial pejoratives.

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits racial harassment and requires employers to take prompt action to investigate and stop the behavior after they receive complaints.

According to the settlement documents, ASI will provide $1,250,000 in compensatory damages to the former employees and hire an EEO consultant to help implement the decree’s terms. ASI will review company policies and train all employees, including superintendents and general foremen, on preventing and reporting racial harassment.  ASI will also work with the consultant to develop policies and procedures to facilitate discussions with potential subcontractors, general contractors and unions about how to best monitor, prevent and remedy harassment and racist graffiti at worksites and develop proposals to incorporate such terms into contracts.

Read EEOC’s Statement